Martin Luther King Day is celebrated on the third Monday in January. His actual birthday is on January 15th. You can find a history of how the holiday was established with reluctance and Stevie Wonder’s song Happy Birthday written to advocate for the holiday here.

The children’s book Martin Luther King Day by  Linda Lowery and Illustrated by Hetty Mitchell is intended to explain Martin Luther’s life and why the holiday is celebrated for younger children

This simply illustrated biography gives a simple explanation of why we celebrate Martin Luther King Day with a biography featuring important points in Martin Luther King’s childhood and adult life. It is written at a third grade reading level.

For younger children, the teacher can select certain parts to share. Intermediate children 3-5 can read this book for themselves when research on King and his legacy.

The depiction of Martin Luther King provides a strong positive role model for children of all colors, illustrates the injustice of discrimination based on skin color, and shows ways that people who have stood up against injustice and discrimination have made a difference.

Questions

How do you think Martin felt when his white friend could no longer play with him? Do you think this was fair? How did his mother help him understand?

What did Martin do to prepare himself to make the country a better place for all people?

Should people disobey laws that they think are wrong and suffer the consequences

Activities

There is an excellent set of questions and activities at back of book.
The ally, victim, perpetrator, bystander activity would also work well as a follow up to this book.

Another great book about Martin Luther King to read to your students is My Brother Martin